Damn, looking at those photos I see I have been putting mine on wrongly. I have the seam going from the outside of my little finger, along the outstide of my arm and over the funny bone. I shall have to get it correct next time.

Still the most comfortable suit out there though.

Cheers, will look forward to the download on the site when it's available.

J.

My email address is at the bottom of every post. This pullover is too big for you. If it fit right, it would not ride up.

Please contact me by email if you have additional questions by email.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

Hey E,

This is a personal note - Sorry to go OT. Great to see you here.

I am a long time customer, and have competed against you occasionally for over 20 years. We are the same age, but how did we get this old!! Anyway, thanks for all you do for the sport. I sure hope others will see in your post your true heart. Of course you are in business, but your always go above and beyond in your support and customer service - we appreciate it!

Best wishes,

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

How did we get this old? Really. Thanks for your very kind words. Please keep in touch and let me know if you need anything from me.

In fact please email me directly if you have a moment.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

I bought a T1 last week. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents. Already owning 2 QR suits buying a new style of suit was a leap of faith. Emilio's involvement and willingness to help everyone here was the deciding factor. The rave reviews and the many happy users first focused my attention on the T1.

I ended up in a smaller size than I thought i might and was happy I had the chance to try the pieces on in several sizes locally. If I had bought through mail order I would have had the wrong size from the sizing chart. ( I was down one size on the top which seems to be a common problem from this thread)

Love the De Soto T1. Easier to get on and more importantly, much easier to get off than either my full or john QR...and I love both those suits. More flexiable, more comfort and less fatigue on the swim in the T1. It was noticeable on the first swim. Count another convert here. Only wish we had been brave enough to buy my wife's first suit from Emilio last fall. Tough part now is not bragging to her about just how much better my new suit really is! Too bad she'll have to wait another year to enjoy her T1 ;)

I just wore the bottom. This allowed the water to cool my upper body. Ironman Wisconsin wasn't the hottest race I've ever done, but I saw things at that race I've never seen - even in Kona, Penticton etc. I learned a lesson at GFT to not cook myself on the swim. A long painful lesson on that day, but it paid off in Madison and for my future IM Distance races. It was a smart move to remember how long the race is and calculate that into my race plan. Wisconsin in 2005 was not my best day - matter of fact, I NEVER felt good during the race. I messed up something during the taper (perhaps too much work travel leading into the race), but IM Moo was my highest ever finish at any IM distance race (overall - top 250).

A side note - I've used the T1 bottom only in Olympic races too with great results.

Emilio - our club will be contacting you for our race clothing again in 2006 within the week.

Hello Roberto,

Emilio here. Thanks for your input and your kind words. Hey would you mind contacting me by email?

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

I just bought a T1 and tested it in the pool. The results of that test were posted here about a week ago but since it go no replies it dropped off the board very quickly.

Bottom line was that the T1 was 8 sec /100 yd faster than w/o wet suit and 3 sec/100 faster than my old IM stealth.

BUT using just the Bibjohn was 3 sec/100 slower than with the pullover on.

Emilio and others, do you have information on this? There is little question that for me, the resistance goes up when the bibjohn is used alone.

If I substituted the vest for the pullover, would I get the 3 sec/100 back?
Would a vest be significantly cooler than the pullover?

The T1 is quite warm.

Thanks for any help,
Bill

Hey thanks for posting. I cannot find your previous post.

I like the results of your tests and they appear to be pretty accurate to what we have found in 100m tests, but keep in mind tha the true speed of a wetsuit cannot be determined by swimming 100 meters in a pool. All one-piece wetsuits will cause your stroke to deteriorate during the latter part of a long swim. This is not the case with the T1 models. So if there were a way to time yourself in the last 100m of a 200 meter swim in the T1 vs other wetsuits, then you would see a bigger disparity in the times. This is where the T1 really shines and this is where you want to put the focus of your purchase decision if you take this sport seriously.

As far as using the Bibjohn alone, again, this only works if the fit is snug to begin with.

The T1 Black Pearl Vest will be much cooler than the Pullover, and you may very well get the 3 seconds back.

By the way, did you notice how heavy those IM Stealths are compared to the T1?

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

Just curious. Would it be possible to make an even thinner top, maybe even a really slick longsleeve rashguard kind of a thing, for the 'barely wetsuit legal' swims?

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_________________
Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

Already thought of it. I have been testing a 1 mm top for about 6 months now. If things continue to go well, it will probably be a part of our line in 2007.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

Thanks! I was curious if such a thing as 1 mm neoprene existed.

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_________________
Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

I have .5mm rubber in the house.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

Wow! That's basically balloon material!

I'll be looking into the vest situation if I can't get the T1 top to be comfy enough. I'll be testing that in the pool soon.

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**************
Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

“Hey thanks for posting. I cannot find your previous post.”

I have pasted it in at the end of this reply. What I found incredible about the T1 is the synergy between my stroke and the suit. It encourages upper quadrant swimming and penalizes movement of hands past the waist. And it seems to make you want to keep your elbows high. Great product.

”I like the results of your tests and they appear to be pretty accurate to what we have found in 100m tests, but keep in mind tha the true speed of a wetsuit cannot be determined by swimming 100 meters in a pool. All one-piece wetsuits will cause your stroke to deteriorate during the latter part of a long swim. This is not the case with the T1 models. So if there were a way to time yourself in the last 100m of a 200 meter swim in the T1 vs other wetsuits, then you would see a bigger disparity in the times. This is where the T1 really shines and this is where you want to put the focus of your purchase decision if you take this sport seriously.”

If you read the text at the end you will see I did an entire work out in each suit and then averaged my time per 100. The problem is that when swimming hard in a pool it is impossible to avoid over heating when the distance goes beyond 200 yds. The T1 is so tight and too thick layers, I got REALLY hot.

”As far as using the Bibjohn alone, again, this only works if the fit is snug to begin with.”

Thanks to the help of your staff I tried both a 3 and a 4. A 3 is too tight.

”The T1 Black Pearl Vest will be much cooler than the Pullover, and you may very well get the 3 seconds back.”

You are probably going to get another order soon. But I must admit that a thin version of the T1 pullover sounds VERY attractive.

”By the way, did you notice how heavy those IM Stealths are compared to the T1?”

There is no comparison. The 3 sec/100 diff I talk about below underestimates the difference for a long race because the IM Stealth sure takes a lot out of me. After 4200 yds I could tell my muscles were doing a “new” kind of work.
Bill

POST FROM April 14th
I compared my old 2001 Ironman VO2 stealth , a new Desoto T1 bib plus pullover, and T1 bib only against my swim times in one of my standard weekly work outs (25 yd pool). The work out is 500 warm-up with drills, 5x100 on 1:40, 5x100 with pull buoy on 1:40, 1x500, 10x50 with paddles on 1:05, 300 warm-down. The buoy was NOT used with the wet suits. Each of the three wet suit tests were done on a separate day (only one day each) and the chosen day was the same day of the work out week in each case.

Work out set……..…No wet suit….Stealth...……T1 bib+plvr….T1 plvr only
1st 5x100 w/o buoy….1:30-1:35….1:25-1:28………1:22-1:25…….1:25-1:28
2nd 5x100 w bouy……1:28-1:32….…ditto…....……….ditto…….....…….ditto
1x500 (100 yd pace)…1:32-1:36…..…1:28……...……..1:28……....…….1:28
10x50 w paddles……..0:38-0:41….0:34-0:36……..0:32-0:35……0:35-0:38

Observations
1. The buoy is a few seconds/100 faster. (I use a fairly lazy two beat cross over kick.)
2. The Stealth is about 5 sec/100 faster.
3. The T1 (both pieces) is about 8 sec/100 faster.
4. #3 appears to be at odds with the 500 times but it is not. The T1 is MUCH warmer. I went out at a ~1:20 pace and I believe I could have held it but half way through I went into melt down. I have never been so hot in the water. This suit is thicker and more water tight.
5. The bib alone is comparable in speed to the Stealth. This is amazing considering that it scoops water on every turn. I suspect it would perform better in the open water (sans turns) but I am pretty sure the added resistance will make it slower than when the pull over is added.
6. I had zero ride up of the pull over but this was not a very long swim. I did let water in after the 500 because I thought I was about to die.
7. I tried sizes 3 and 4 in both bib and pullover and kept the size 4. De Soto was great.

Bill

Hey Bill,

This is so great. Very concise and clear. Hey if you ever want to move to San Diego and sell T1 Wetsuits, your hired. I would not have to train you, you know all the facts already to the smallest detail.

Before ordering, please get in touch with me by email.

Thanks again.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

[your test]

i believe the subject of arms v no arms came up a week or so ago on the forum -- not with respect to T1, but wetsuits in general (a guy was asking about flume testing, etc.).

our tests (at QR) consistently showed that a sleeveless suit got you only about 3/4 the value of a fullsuit (speed value). this is right in line with your own study.

now, this isn't to say that any fullsuit beats every sleeveless, and your test also bears that out. but a well-conceived, well-built, properly-fitting, properly-donned wetsuit beats its longjohn counterpart by about that much.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Hello Dan,

Your tests at QR were in the BT1 (Before T1) era, so it will be interesting to see what Bill's tests conclude when he test the T1 Black Pearl Vest over a T1 First Wave or Black Pearl Bibjohn.

I have a feeling you will be correct, but who knows?

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

"it will be interesting to see what Bill's tests conclude when he test the T1 Black Pearl Vest over a T1 First Wave or Black Pearl Bibjohn. "

it's my guess, tho of course i do not know, that the T1 w/vest and the T1 bibjohn test pretty closely. i'd bet the vest gives you an extra second per 100yd, that is, in bill's case, 6sec/100yd w/vest, 5sec bibjohn only, 8sec w/pullover. that's where i'd put my money.

as to another issue raised, that of rubber thickness, i have my own ideas about this, which i'll write to you privately.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Sounds good Dan. Though both you and I are in accordance regarding rubber thickness and where it should be placed on the wetsuit.

Hey, you are going to smile at my latest invention. If we share enough tequila this weekend I may tell you, if nobody is around....doubtful, right?

It kind of falls along the lines of the Marc Dragon at the starting line story and how we laughed at him at Hilton Head Island USTS Nationals in 1985.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

"If we share enough tequila this weekend"

if?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It was probably the sharing part that was in question.... :)

Probably not a huge market for this, but I'd like to see a bibjohn in thinner material for us "swimmers". I find my feet are not real effective wearing my T1 - they float too high, although I still gain about 5 secs per 100 yds. I'm curious if thinner material/less flotation would optimize my kick and therefore go even faster. It'd also be great for those later Bonelli races where the water is barely wetsuit legal (I got pretty toasty last year).

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

You hit it right on the head. Not a huge market. I have thought about this more for the sake of late season-warm-water-races, but my research has shown people prefer to be a bit warmer over sacrificing speed.

Not all you swimmers feel you float too high. In fact you are only the third person ever to complain about this. Mostly the sprinters that can't slow their kick to a simple 2-beat crossover. It sucks being fast, huh?

I have a simple solution for you though, can you guess what it is?

Hint: It is inexpensive, available now, and solves both issues for you.

(in the background the Jeopardy song is playing, you have one minute)

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

rubber bands around the ankles

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org